Friends, unlike the writers for the Simpsons, I don't believe that Upstate New York is a waste of space, and nor do I believe that the Empire State as a whole is without its charms. That being said, the Northeast in general suffers from a debilitating triple-whammy: long, bleak winters; high taxes in almost all categories, especially property taxes; and a stifling burden of over-regulation, bureaucracy, and pie-in-the-sky socialism, engendered by the death grip that Democrats have on almost every Governor's mansion and state legislative chamber north and east of Pennsylvania. It's enough to make any conservative, patriotic, capitalistic resident of one of these benighted states want to flee in terror to the Sun Belt. Now, I'm not for or against such a strategy, but it helps to understand how the Northeast got to be so dysfunctional, if only because it's a cautionary tale that our fellow Americans elsewhere can learn from. Check out this article, which discusses the extent of the tax burden in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut -- and why it is almost certain to rise even more.* Sobering stuff.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-29/high-tax-states-like-ny-nj-and-ct-are-a-sign-of-inefficiency?srnd=opinion
*Please note that the figures given for income tax rates are MAXIMUM rates, so they are somewhat deceptively high, but the wider point is that we pay through the nose, and that part is true.
Dr. Waddy: Typical leftist baloney: take from the productive, because they are simply privileged and unworthily so; give to the unproductive because they are simply unprivileged and are due justice. Punish success, because it bespeaks cooperation with a fundamentally unjust economy and society; exalt and protect criminals because their destructive behavior is excused by manifest oppression from the unfeeling beneficiaries of undeserved prosperity. A perfect examplar of the latter is Cuomo, whose compassion for cop killers is well established. Now he wants to parole very long term inmates who are over 55. Over 85? That could make a very little sense, if they've served say 40 years, though I wouldn't support it. Oh but no, its the victimizers turned "victims" for whom Andrew squirms at night. After all, they are so nice to him and he does want the electoral approval of all the incarcerated after all. And the lawful and the forever victims of murderous savages? Well,they should get over it; "let's not be judgemental and vindictive and if I think you are I'll use my power to 'learn ya', ta use your upstate lingo".
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: After China rightfully reacquired the Hong Kong colony, it tolerated its unMarxist tendencies but insulated the rest of China from much of its influence, at least for a time. In the Northeast U.S. the nexus of leftist cancer is that great tumor on the Hudson with Boston serving as a major agent of its metastisizing assault and with numerous infectious nodes in university centers and too very many largely uncomprehending old labor union towns throughout the area. Oh sure, Bernie is an essential Vermonter; nah, just listen to his accent - he's a carpetbagger.
ReplyDeleteThe U.S. would do well to treat NY as a Hong Kong like anomaly, tolerated but isolated and denied power.
What a brilliant idea! Perhaps a wall could be built enclosing the five boroughs... I wouldn't be against it. The more walls, the better! Truthfully, though, it's virtual walls -- something to hold back the intellectual/spiritual/moral rot that leftist ideas engender -- that's really needed.
ReplyDeleteCoddling criminals is a time-honored tradition on the Left. One wonders when, not if, they will push their luck on this issue and the voters will get wise.
Dr. Waddy: Its a fundamental of leftist thinking - the criminal is a victim, both of society and its organs of punishment. The majority of criminals I knew were just fine with that either because they believe it or because its a very effective game. No wonder the left wants them to vote.Lots of criminal apologists are high up in NY Corrections. Again, NYC is the problem there.
ReplyDeleteI think in order to defeat the leftist malignancy a spiritual and moral revival is necessary and if it cannot remedy the current shameful antiintellectual swamp that is the American academy, then isolate the bigoted morass as we do nuclear waste.
A sensible diagnosis and prescription. The problem, of course, is that meanwhile the Left is doing its best to isolate US! And in a lot of key areas they're doing a fine job of it.
ReplyDeleteDr. Waddy: They present our country, our polity, our legal system ,our society,our sovereignty and our very national life with an existential threat. If empowered they would take us on a hellish journey to nowhere, to anarchy and to a societal collapse fully predictable by their doctrine's historical record. But there would be no USA there to champion our redemption. All, everything, is in the balance now!
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